The South Fence
By the end of May (oh how fast the months roll on!) the east, west and north side fences were done. And while I hadn't mentioned the south fence, somewhere in there that was mostly completed too. Let's catch up on that.
Showing its Age
Here's a semi-interesting thing - while I make no attempt to hide my mistakes as we go through the many projects here at 173, I've also rarely advertised them. Because of that, I really don't have a lot of pictures of just how rough the fence had become.
Here's a long view where you can see how dry the wood had become and how the moss and the rest of nature were taking their toll:
The old fence panels had really become just that - old. An while the weathered look had some appeal, the fences had really passed that stage. And because we live in North America, the south fence gets sun-beaten all day every day, and it sure took its toll - here's a closeup of just how bad it had gotten!
Hanging the Picket Panels
Hanging fence panels is so satisfying. The tediousness of all the dang prep work (I don't know if I ever mentioned that I may seem patient, but that's just on the outside!) is done, and all you have to do is screw them to the fence posts. BUT...and this will crack you up, instead of just driving a few screws, when I put the original fence in, I used L-brackets to attach them...
I don't why I did it then, and I surely don't know why I did it this time, but there it is...I did it again. Sure, it slowed things down a bit,, but why change when it worked perfectly for 20 years?!
Even with the L-brackets, it didn't take long to hang the panels! And just like that - the south fence was done...
Some tool restoration posts 2020 to 2022
∙ The Hand-Cranked Bench Grinder - January 2022
∙ My Gerstner Tool Chest - February 2020
∙ Red Devil No. 271 Tin Snips - April 2021
∙ Wards Linesman Pliers - September 2021
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Here's a bunch of general tool posts too!
Almost Done
Well, the south fence was almost done. Look closely at this next picture. Do you see it? The new pickets are a completely different size than the old.
The old pickets in that picture are on the driveway gates. While evaluating the condition of all the posts, I ended up very easily breaking off one of the driveway gate posts. I wasn't really surprised, after all, it had been up for 20 years, but it did make me a little anxious because building those gates and placing that post the first time really taxed my skills. Here's a shot of the gate from a few years ago...
We'll see how far my skills have come - in another post!
